Communications

I am the managing editor of Peninsula Press, a multimedia news website based out of Stanford University in California. We are working on collecting data on traffic stops and searches made by state patrols across the country. (I previously contacted your agency regarding record layout information about what datapoints your state collects and had received a document with Delaware's data collection fields for traffic stops.)

Pursuant to Delaware's Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

I am requesting the raw data of traffic stops made in your state and laid out in your record description for the last ten (10) years. The fields of data include: agencyID, assignment, stopdate, location, sector, vehstate, vehplate, vehmake, vehmodel, vehsearch, opoInstate, opdob, oprace, opsex, opeo, reason, reasonmore, searchmore, arrestactivity, cleardate, offnotes, quickstop and GUID. These were all fields provided by the state. Additionally, if collected, we’d like to request the officer race information and officer ID number.

Ms. Kimberly Chandler previously told us the state is unable to provide a report for each individual data cell. If that is still the case, we request traffic stop aggregate data you can provide.

The requested data will be analyzed, eventually be made available to the general public and be used for editorial purposes. This request is not being made for commercial purposes. We kindly ask the request be filled electronically. We can accept the data in many common formats, including as CSV, spreadsheet or other database formats. Data can be emailed to vram@stanford.edu or uploaded to this Dropbox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/request/odnRjw3wEXA0syHqoQH1

In the event data has to be sent physically on a CD or portable drive, please mail to Peninsula Press, Stanford Journalism Program, 450 Serra Mall, Building 120, Stanford, CA 94305.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 15 business days, as the statute requires.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Nov. 10, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Nov. 10, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

---On Nov. 10, 2015:Dear Ms. Kimberly Chandler:

I am the managing editor of Peninsula Press, a multimedia news website based out of Stanford University in California. We are working on collecting data on traffic stops and searches made by state patrols across the country. (I previously contacted your agency regarding record layout information about what datapoints your state collects and had received a document with Delaware's data collection fields for traffic stops.)

Pursuant to Delaware's Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

I am requesting the raw data of traffic stops made in your state and laid out in your record description for the last ten (10) years. The fields of data include: agencyID, assignment, stopdate, location, sector, vehstate, vehplate, vehmake, vehmodel, vehsearch, opoInstate, opdob, oprace, opsex, opeo, reason, reasonmore, searchmore, arrestactivity, cleardate, offnotes, quickstop and GUID. These were all fields provided by the state. Additionally, if collected, we’d like to request the officer race information and officer ID number.

Ms. Kimberly Chandler previously told us the state is unable to provide a report for each individual data cell. If that is still the case, we request traffic stop aggregate data you can provide.

The requested data will be analyzed, eventually be made available to the general public and be used for editorial purposes. This request is not being made for commercial purposes. We kindly ask the request be filled electronically. We can accept the data in many common formats, including as CSV, spreadsheet or other database formats. Data can be emailed to vram@stanford.edu<mailto:vram@stanford.edu> or uploaded to this Dropbox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/request/odnRjw3wEXA0syHqoQH1

In the event data has to be sent physically on a CD or portable drive, please mail to Peninsula Press, Stanford Journalism Program, 450 Serra Mall, Building 120, Stanford, CA 94305.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 15 business days, as the statute requires.

Mr. Ramachandran,As noted in an email response dated July 24, 2015, we can only provide an aggregate analysis. (See email text below.)Thanks, Kimberly

On July 24, 2015:Mr. Ramachandran,As requested in your email below, I have attached a document listing the data cells collected during a traffic stop. Please note we are unable to provide a report for each individual data cell. The only report that could be run from this data is an aggregate analysis.